


Appa's Herd

by twinkleflange



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-16 20:50:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4639734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twinkleflange/pseuds/twinkleflange
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Appa finds a new Herd, after years of being on his own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Appa's Herd

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't think there were enough fics written from Appa's perspective.

Few realise it, but sky bisons have perhaps the longest and most accurate memories of any animal on earth. Appa could remember almost every detail of where he had travelled with his Friend, and what they had met, and eaten and smelled, and much of what had happened before that, when he lived with his mother and litter in the Herd. Even though his Friend had grown to a bull, a good sized one for a biped, with a handsome ruff around his neck, and he and his mate had calves of their own. Appa had smelled each one after they had been born, even though their mother had not allowed Appa to lick and scent-mark them. Though he had felt uneasy about them not being given the Herd-smell, he had known better than to bother a cow with new calves. His own mother had taught him Manners.

Though Appa was Herdless, he rarely felt lonely. His bipeds did their best to be a Herd to him, his Friend most of all, along with his mate and calves. One calf could even fly. At first his interactions with the air were wobbling and uneasy, just like a bison calf, though now he could fly quite well. Not as well as Appa's Friend could at that age though. Nobody was like his Friend.

Though they had flown all over the world, with the whole herd on his back, this place was new. Appa flew effortlessly, following the tugs on his horns from his Friend or his calf. The sky was so calm and clear he even did a few somersaults to make his Friend laugh. (He wouldn't have done so with flightless bipeds on his back, of course.)

Then, he smelled it. Though he hadn't smelled it since he was a calf, he knew the scent as he knew his Friend or a ripe cabbage. Herd.

He turned and flew into the smell, gaining speed. At first his Friend growled and tugged his horn, but soon gave up and let him fly where he wanted. As the smell grew stronger, he got faster, pushing the air in front of him out of the way in his haste. Soon he could see white bison-shaped blobs in front of him, a Herd even bigger than his own long-lost one. He almost skidded to a stop, and called out joyfully.

The Herd stared at him, not moving. A few brown-eared cows nudged their calves in closer to them. An old cow walked up to him, nostrils flared. The All-mother of this herd. Most of the bison here could trace their ancestry back to her. Appa wanted to lick her as he used to lick his own mother, but stopped himself. His Friend bellowed to his calf to stay back, but stood with Appa.

Manners. He had lived so long with only bipeds, that the proper ways were no longer second nature. But the longer he stood here, with a Herd to whom the ways were life, he rapidly understood their wariness. A Herdless bull, coming from outside, early in the calving season when some calves were still too small to fly? Very bad. Any All-mother would order a stampede to neutralise the danger and protect the young. While Appa's mother and Herd had let him know what the right ways were: who ate first, how to approach another as a mate or a friend, he had no idea what the protocol for this situation was, perhaps the most volatile in bison culture. Not knowing what else to do, Appa sank to his knees, lowered his gaze, and bowed his head.

Bowing was good biped Manners, seemingly everywhere they had gone. Even bipeds who shot fire and the ones who tunneled so deep they couldn't smell the sky bowed. Whenever his Friend had approached new bipeds, if they had allowed an approach, he had bowed to them, lowering his gaze and showing his hands. It seemed to relax situations. Appa didn't know if this herd, whom he knew had never met bipeds, would understand. He knew by the way the All-mother had glanced at his Friend and his calf and then ignored them. They didn't look like they could do much damage, with their tiny blunt teeth and claws. Appa looked at his Friend, and his Friend looked back. His Friend bowed too.

They made obesiance together for a long moment— then Appa heard a sudden, frightened bellow from his Friend. His calf was skimming over the ground on a ball of air, right up to a litter of calves. The litter were hovering close to the earth, and, like the rest of the Herd, watching the All-Mother's every move. They jumped a little as the biped calf approached. The All-mother grunted in alarm, but did nothing. A calf old enough to fly was expected to know its Manners, but were always granted a good deal of slack, at least until their horns grew in. Anyway a calf, especially a strange, stunted one like this, could hardly do any harm. The biped calf stood on the ground, and reached out to the bison calves. Appa's Friend was frantic, but he stood where he was, snatching his breath back under control. Appa rumbled reassuringly.

He continued to reach to the bison calves, chattering to them in a lower, calmer voice than usual. And in his hand he held... _he held..._

_A ripe, red apple. All the biped calves had apples, and Appa loved apples. But this biped was different. He seemed calmer and happier, and Appa could tell that he wanted to play from the way he looked at him and smiled. He ate the apple and it tasted sweet and good, and he licked his Friend on the face, who laughed and laughed._

The biggest, bravest calf, who was not _really_ scared, came forward. He stayed a body length away from his Friend's calf, and rather than eating the apple from his palm, airbent the apple into his mouth. As he ate it, he trilled in delight. Of course, these bison would not know apples, or cabbages, or any of the things the bipeds grew that are good to eat. The brave calf cantered forward and pushed his new Friend over, licking and licking him.

Appa's Friend began to laugh, just as he had laughed on their first day. He flew to Appa's saddle and pulled out a fat, juicy cabbage which made Appa lick his lips. His Friend held the cabbage out to the All-Mother, who had been watching the two calves carefully. She sniffed curiously at the new foodstuff, and as the calf had done, airbent it into her open mouth. As she chewed, her eyes widened, and she gave a tiny, dignified trill of her own. She licked his Friend, welcoming the strange animal which gave delicious fruit.

The All-mother approached Appa, still in his adapted bison bow, and tenderly nudged his head with her own, scent-marking him with the Herd-smell which had drawn him there. Appa gave her a happy, grateful lick, and she groaned at him, deep and soothing. They both watched the biped calf, under his father's eye, step over to the brave calf and stroke his head. "I'm going to call you Oogie," he cried.

Appa knew that his Herdless days were at an end.


End file.
